Act may be declared unconstitutional with passage of time

Malpe Vishwanath Acharya and Ors.

Vs.

State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Supreme Court, 3 judge

AIR1998SC602

A legislation which, when enacted, was justified on considerations of necessity and expediency may, with the passage of time, become arbitrary and unreasonable in changing circumstances.

There is considerable judicial authority in support of the submission of learned counsel for the appellants that with the passage of time a legislation which was justified when enacted may become arbitrary and unreasonable with the change in circumstances. In the State of Madhya Pradesh v. Bhopal Sugar Industries,

MANU/SC/0099/1964 : [1964]52ITR443(SC) dealing with a question whether geographical classification due to historical reasons would be valid this Court at page 853 observed as follows :

"Differential treatment arising out of the application of the laws so continued in different regions of the same reorganised, State, did not therefore immediately attract the clause of the Constitution prohibiting discrimination. But by the passage of time, considerations of necessity and expediency would be obliterated, and the grounds which justified classification of geographical regions for historical reason may cease to be valid. A purely temporary provision which because of compelling forces justified differential treatment when the Reorganisation Act was enacted cannot obviously be permitted to assume permanency, so as to perpetuate that treatment without a rational basis to support it after the initial expediency and necessity have disappeared.